Editorial Preface

This Summer’s special edition of Catholic Theology and Thought addresses the fascinating issue of “Understanding God in the Context of Interreligious Dialogue”. Inter-religious dialogue brings a renewed freshness to our understanding of both the singularity and relevance of the Christian concept of God. Our engagement in this complex discernment must, by necessity, be prefaced on an important question: “What is our starting point for this thing we call religion?” Obviously, but often overlooked, the starting point for this reflection cannot be, in the first instance, a religion’s doctrines and ideology. Rather, our starting point is to be found in the sympathetic listening to how individuals and communities within history experience and articulate their sufferings: the contradictions and vicissitudes of life resulting from the vagaries of death, sickness, injustice and violence. Thus, religion, as a pointer to a life beyond suffering and death, is a ritual and doctrinal articulation of salvation. By way of corollary, the task of theology is to reflect on the epistemological structure of our absolute experience, namely our experience of God, within the context of discerning salvation.